Barclays PLC Cuts Stock Position in Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS)

Barclays PLC trimmed its position in shares of Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,480,067 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 94,982 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned 0.80% of Cerus worth $2,279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CERS. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cerus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $376,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Cerus by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 86,787 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 6,665 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Cerus by 28.1% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 41,787 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 9,156 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in shares of Cerus by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 103,032 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $159,000 after acquiring an additional 9,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cerus by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,454,525 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,862,000 after acquiring an additional 39,072 shares during the period. 78.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cerus news, COO Vivek K. Jayaraman sold 29,985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.45, for a total transaction of $43,478.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 1,477,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,142,128.50. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevin Dennis Green sold 60,656 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.58, for a total transaction of $95,836.48. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 493,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,301.96. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 441,150 shares of company stock valued at $665,210 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $4.00 target price on shares of Cerus in a report on Friday, February 21st.

Cerus Stock Down 2.9 %

CERS stock opened at $1.32 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $1.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $252.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.00 and a beta of 1.70. Cerus Co. has a fifty-two week low of $1.12 and a fifty-two week high of $2.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.59.

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The company had revenue of $50.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.81 million. Cerus had a negative net margin of 11.60% and a negative return on equity of 40.55%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cerus Co. will post -0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Cerus

Cerus Corporation operates as a biomedical products company. The company focuses on developing and commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System to enhance blood safety. Its INTERCEPT Blood System, a proprietary technology for controlling biological replication that is designed to reduce blood-borne pathogens in donated blood components intended for transfusion.